Doordarshan plans to bolster university-level sports in India by launching leagues in 3 disciplines

Sports leagues such as the Indian Premier League (IPL), Indian Super League (ISL), Premier Badminton League (PBL), just to name a few, have made long-lasting impressions in their respective disciplines. Inspired by their success, public sector broadcaster Doordarshan plans to launch sports leagues of its own in a couple of months’ time, albeit with a few differences. The focus will be on university level sports, with plans to launch leagues in three different disciplines — basketball, tackle football and kabaddi. [caption id=“attachment_3768893” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative photo. Getty Images[/caption] According to a report on Livemint, Doordarshan director general Supriya Sahu said that the broadcaster was in talks with an American firm with an expertise in university sports. Sahu added that the idea was to establish a structure for university sports, with an eye on expanding to other disciplines in the coming years. “DD Sports is in the process of reinvigorating the content of the channel and rebranding it to make it relevant for its target audience. Sports leagues are major content differentiators in the genre. It sees potential in university sports,” Sahu was quoted as saying. The report further added that the zonal matches and finals will be aired in the regional channels and DD National respectively, although all the fixtures will be aired on DD Sports. “All the matches will be aired on DD Sports. The leagues will be launched with a strategic publicity and promotion plan which includes cross-channel, print, radio and outdoor publicity,” added Sahu. Doordarshan though, isn’t the only one in this regard. Delhi-based broadcaster NDTV had launched a university-level cricket league in partnership with the Association of Indian Universities and the ministry of human resource development, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had also backed it. The tournament though, wasn’t quite the success that it was expected to be, and couldn’t progress beyond one season.